INTRODUCTION THE FRAGILITY OF DREAM IN JOHN STEINBECK’S OF MICE AND MEN; A GENETIC STRUCTURALISM APPROACH.
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Every person has dream to be happy in their lives. Sometimes people regard
a wealthy as a symbol of happiness, since persons see wealth in different ways;
there are many definitions of “wealth”. For example there is a person who could
eat three times a day then they already consider themselves as a wealthy person
because they feel pleasant with their lives. On the other hand, there is a person
who has a lot of houses, cars, and much money but they still consider himself as a
poor person.
“Dream is condition or achievement that is longed for an aspiration; dream
is a fantastic but vain hope” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dream). When
people do something to get their dream, they will struggle for it every time such as
working hard, but there is also a person that has been working very hard and they
also have a great optimistic, unfortunately some of them cannot reach their dream
until the end of their lives. Their entire dream is fragile together with their failure.
The fragility of dream usually happens to the poor persons, because they live in
limited condition, they cannot get anything they need. So, they always dream to
be better. But, because of many reasons, such as political condition, low education
and few of position, they cannot reach their dream. In social fact, the fragility of
dream also had happen to the American migrant workers in early twentieth
century, when the Great depression happened.
1
1
2
Many people traveling to the ranches have the dream of having
own land and having the ability to be in control of their own
lives, unlike reality, where they abide by what the owner of the
ranch says, but many of them dream is only as a nightmare.
(http://www.123helpme.com.preview.asp?id=119490)
The Fragility of Dream in American migrant workers begun when most of
the American Society has the Dream and it is called as “American Dream”. It is
an American society dream to get a better life. American dream reflects that
American society want to get their own land, their own house, or own farm.
American Dream in http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dream meant as the
widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parent did. The
American Dream also can be described as follow:
“The American Dream is also an American nightmare, that
underlying attitude in American, that if you work hard enough
you will have money and prestige. There are millions of
Americans working very hard and long hours that have neither
money nor prestige, nor will they ever have it”
(http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006041420204.)
Cincotta (2004:246) states that as a free country, America is a good place to
settle in order to get the better life; most of the immigrants came from Europe and
Africa. Some historians explain that from the 17th century when the first settlers
arrived, immigrants dreamed of a better life in America. People went there to
escape from persecution or poverty and make a new life for themselves or their
families. For many people the dream became nightmare, the horrors of slavery of
the American civil war, the growth of towns with slums as bad as those in Europe,
the corruption of the American political system led to many shattered hopes, and
this was start of the Great Depression that would affect the world during the
2
3
1930s. (http://kelibrary.hmccd.edu/decade30.html). However the Dream survived
for individuals, many of them made their way to travel in California to get a better
life.
The author of literary work sometimes creates the work by seeing the fact,
by feeling the reality and makeing up their consciousness to make movement. For
the author realities are the source of inspiration to create literary work that can be
taken from his social life or his personal experience. It is possible for the entire
author and John Steinbeck is not an exception.
John Steinbeck is a good and great writer in that era. From many Virtual
references explained that John Steinbeck’s most famous books are set in
California. They deal with the lives and problem of working people in Twentieth
century. Many characters in his books are immigrants from Mexico or from other
parts of the United States who want to California looking for work or a better life.
Steinbeck first became widely known with Tortilla Flat (1935) - a series of
humorous stories about Monterey paisanos. After his Tortilla Flat he moved to
more serious fiction, often aggressive in its social critics on Dubious Battle (1936)
and then this followed by Of Mice and Man (1937) , The Long Valley (1938), The
Grapes of Wrath (1939), East of Eden (1952), The Winter of our Discontent
(1961), and Travels With Charley (1962).
Of Mice and Man is one of Steinbeck’s very interesting novels because the
content of the story is so wonderful and unfathomable. The reader will not stop to
read before the end. It is not like majority of fiction that explore about miracle like
in Cinderella, Snow White, etc, but it tell us about someone ‘imbecile giant
3
4
Lennie’ who never gets happiness until the end of his life. The story of this novel
is about the fragility of people’s dream or in short is fragility of dream. This
novella’s title comes from a poem “To a Mouse” by Scots poet Robert Burns
(1759-1796). Burns shows how the plans of men are no more secure than those of
mouse. And this is point of Steinbeck’s title. The source of the character’s dream
is their discontent with their present. Steinbeck shows how poor their lifestyle is:
they have few positions, fewer comforts, no chance of marriage or family life and
no place of their own. (http://www.azete.com.preview.98675).
In of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck creates characters to have an optimistic
dream. They have a desire to fulfill their dream. For example, Lennie and George
both work to get their own land. Almost every time they always talk about their
dreams in having own land. Candy and Crooks, the minor characters in this novel,
also try to share in their dream. Candy is desperate and ready to trust his fortune to
this plan. He also invests all his money to buy their dreaming land. But Crooks is
most cynical about the dream. He often says that no body ever gets to heaven and
no body gets any land. The end of this novel seems to confirm Crooks’s
pessimistic view. None of the character achieves his or her dream.
In this novel, Steinbeck also presents unusual character. He is Lennie. His
body is like giant man and very strong. He can put up a four hundred pound bale
and can resell grain bass. But his mental is child out look. He always forgets
something important happened in his life. He also gains pleasure from “pet” soft
thing even dead mice. He is emotionally and dependent. Panic in others makes
Lennie panic too. It happened when he tried to pet a girls dress in Weed, when he
4
5
was attached by Curley and when he stroked Curley’s wife’s hair. In all of his
limited condition, he also has dream to have his own land and takes care his own
rabbits, although his dream is fragile.
From the illustration above, the writer is interested in analyzing the Fragility
of Dream in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men by using Genetic Structuralism
Approach, developed by Lucian Goldmann. Genetic Structuralism is the theory
that not only focuses on structure of the literary work, but also the sociological
aspect of the work.
B. Literature Review
The writer presents the previous study dealing with the study of this novel.
Dheny Ratna (2005) Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta’s Student in her
thesis entitled” Ambitions of Lennie Small and George Milton in John
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men; An Individual Psychological Approach” analyzed
the Major character’s ambition that have a great influence in their personality, by
using individual psychological approach. While in this research the writer focuses
on analyzing The Fragility of Dream that happen in the major character’s life in
Of Mice and Men Novel by using Genetic Structuralism Approach which not only
focuses on intrinsic structure of the literary work, but also the sociological aspect
that explain the historical background when the work is created.
C. Problem Statement.
The main problem of the study is “How the fragility of dream is reflected in
John Steinbeck’s of Mice and Men?”.
5
6
D. Limitation of the Study
This study is focuses on the Analysis of American society in early Twentieth
centuries as reflected on the major character in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and
Men. This study uses the theory of Genetic Structuralism developed by Lucian
Goldmann.
E. Objective of the Study
1. To analyze the novel based on its structural analysis.
2. To analyze the novel based on sociological perspective, (Genetic
structuralism).
F. Benefit of the Study
The Benefits of the study are stated as the following:
1. Theoretical Benefit
To improve the knowledge in studying literature and give contribution to
literary studies John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.
2. Practical Benefit
To fulfill the requirement for getting Bachelor of Education in English
Department.
G. Research Method
Dealing with research method, there are at least four points that need to be
involved as follows:
1. Object of the Research
The object of the study is the novel Of Mice and Men written by John
Steinbeck
6
7
2. Type of the Data and the Data Sources
There are two kinds of data resources namely primary data and secondary data
sources
a. Primary Data Sources
The primary data sources are the data taken from the text of Of Mice and Men.
It covers such things as words, phrases, sentences, events, and narration.
b. Secondary Data Sources
The secondary are the data sources deals with the novel and the other books
which have relation with this research, usually it taken from Books, article in
internet and Magazine.
3. Technique of the Data Collection
Technique of data collection is library research that is by collecting and
selecting both primary and secondary data.
4. Technique of the Data Analysis
Technique of data analysis used by the researcher includes two techniques.
First is Descriptive technique. In which the researcher explores some information,
stated implicitly within both of primary and secondary data sources. Secondly is
Hermeneutic technique that involves the researcher effort in interpreting the text
of the novel.
H. Paper Organization
This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter I is introduction dealing with
background of the study, literature review, problem statement, limitation of the
7
8
study, objective of the study, benefit of the study, research method, and paper
organization. Chapter II contains underlying theory explaining Notion Genetic
Structuralism used to analyze the novel, Major principle of Genetic Structuralism,
Structural elements of the novel and theoretical application. Chapter III dealing
with Social Historical Background in the 1937’s that consist of Social aspects,
Economic aspects, Political aspects, cultural aspects, Science and Technological
aspects, Religious aspects and then background of the Author’s life. Chapter IV
presents the structural element of the novel consisting of character and
characterization, setting, plot, point of view, style and theme. Chapter V deals
with a genetic structuralism or sociological analysis. Chapter VI is the conclusion
and suggestion of the study.
8
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Every person has dream to be happy in their lives. Sometimes people regard
a wealthy as a symbol of happiness, since persons see wealth in different ways;
there are many definitions of “wealth”. For example there is a person who could
eat three times a day then they already consider themselves as a wealthy person
because they feel pleasant with their lives. On the other hand, there is a person
who has a lot of houses, cars, and much money but they still consider himself as a
poor person.
“Dream is condition or achievement that is longed for an aspiration; dream
is a fantastic but vain hope” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dream). When
people do something to get their dream, they will struggle for it every time such as
working hard, but there is also a person that has been working very hard and they
also have a great optimistic, unfortunately some of them cannot reach their dream
until the end of their lives. Their entire dream is fragile together with their failure.
The fragility of dream usually happens to the poor persons, because they live in
limited condition, they cannot get anything they need. So, they always dream to
be better. But, because of many reasons, such as political condition, low education
and few of position, they cannot reach their dream. In social fact, the fragility of
dream also had happen to the American migrant workers in early twentieth
century, when the Great depression happened.
1
1
2
Many people traveling to the ranches have the dream of having
own land and having the ability to be in control of their own
lives, unlike reality, where they abide by what the owner of the
ranch says, but many of them dream is only as a nightmare.
(http://www.123helpme.com.preview.asp?id=119490)
The Fragility of Dream in American migrant workers begun when most of
the American Society has the Dream and it is called as “American Dream”. It is
an American society dream to get a better life. American dream reflects that
American society want to get their own land, their own house, or own farm.
American Dream in http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dream meant as the
widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parent did. The
American Dream also can be described as follow:
“The American Dream is also an American nightmare, that
underlying attitude in American, that if you work hard enough
you will have money and prestige. There are millions of
Americans working very hard and long hours that have neither
money nor prestige, nor will they ever have it”
(http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006041420204.)
Cincotta (2004:246) states that as a free country, America is a good place to
settle in order to get the better life; most of the immigrants came from Europe and
Africa. Some historians explain that from the 17th century when the first settlers
arrived, immigrants dreamed of a better life in America. People went there to
escape from persecution or poverty and make a new life for themselves or their
families. For many people the dream became nightmare, the horrors of slavery of
the American civil war, the growth of towns with slums as bad as those in Europe,
the corruption of the American political system led to many shattered hopes, and
this was start of the Great Depression that would affect the world during the
2
3
1930s. (http://kelibrary.hmccd.edu/decade30.html). However the Dream survived
for individuals, many of them made their way to travel in California to get a better
life.
The author of literary work sometimes creates the work by seeing the fact,
by feeling the reality and makeing up their consciousness to make movement. For
the author realities are the source of inspiration to create literary work that can be
taken from his social life or his personal experience. It is possible for the entire
author and John Steinbeck is not an exception.
John Steinbeck is a good and great writer in that era. From many Virtual
references explained that John Steinbeck’s most famous books are set in
California. They deal with the lives and problem of working people in Twentieth
century. Many characters in his books are immigrants from Mexico or from other
parts of the United States who want to California looking for work or a better life.
Steinbeck first became widely known with Tortilla Flat (1935) - a series of
humorous stories about Monterey paisanos. After his Tortilla Flat he moved to
more serious fiction, often aggressive in its social critics on Dubious Battle (1936)
and then this followed by Of Mice and Man (1937) , The Long Valley (1938), The
Grapes of Wrath (1939), East of Eden (1952), The Winter of our Discontent
(1961), and Travels With Charley (1962).
Of Mice and Man is one of Steinbeck’s very interesting novels because the
content of the story is so wonderful and unfathomable. The reader will not stop to
read before the end. It is not like majority of fiction that explore about miracle like
in Cinderella, Snow White, etc, but it tell us about someone ‘imbecile giant
3
4
Lennie’ who never gets happiness until the end of his life. The story of this novel
is about the fragility of people’s dream or in short is fragility of dream. This
novella’s title comes from a poem “To a Mouse” by Scots poet Robert Burns
(1759-1796). Burns shows how the plans of men are no more secure than those of
mouse. And this is point of Steinbeck’s title. The source of the character’s dream
is their discontent with their present. Steinbeck shows how poor their lifestyle is:
they have few positions, fewer comforts, no chance of marriage or family life and
no place of their own. (http://www.azete.com.preview.98675).
In of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck creates characters to have an optimistic
dream. They have a desire to fulfill their dream. For example, Lennie and George
both work to get their own land. Almost every time they always talk about their
dreams in having own land. Candy and Crooks, the minor characters in this novel,
also try to share in their dream. Candy is desperate and ready to trust his fortune to
this plan. He also invests all his money to buy their dreaming land. But Crooks is
most cynical about the dream. He often says that no body ever gets to heaven and
no body gets any land. The end of this novel seems to confirm Crooks’s
pessimistic view. None of the character achieves his or her dream.
In this novel, Steinbeck also presents unusual character. He is Lennie. His
body is like giant man and very strong. He can put up a four hundred pound bale
and can resell grain bass. But his mental is child out look. He always forgets
something important happened in his life. He also gains pleasure from “pet” soft
thing even dead mice. He is emotionally and dependent. Panic in others makes
Lennie panic too. It happened when he tried to pet a girls dress in Weed, when he
4
5
was attached by Curley and when he stroked Curley’s wife’s hair. In all of his
limited condition, he also has dream to have his own land and takes care his own
rabbits, although his dream is fragile.
From the illustration above, the writer is interested in analyzing the Fragility
of Dream in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men by using Genetic Structuralism
Approach, developed by Lucian Goldmann. Genetic Structuralism is the theory
that not only focuses on structure of the literary work, but also the sociological
aspect of the work.
B. Literature Review
The writer presents the previous study dealing with the study of this novel.
Dheny Ratna (2005) Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta’s Student in her
thesis entitled” Ambitions of Lennie Small and George Milton in John
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men; An Individual Psychological Approach” analyzed
the Major character’s ambition that have a great influence in their personality, by
using individual psychological approach. While in this research the writer focuses
on analyzing The Fragility of Dream that happen in the major character’s life in
Of Mice and Men Novel by using Genetic Structuralism Approach which not only
focuses on intrinsic structure of the literary work, but also the sociological aspect
that explain the historical background when the work is created.
C. Problem Statement.
The main problem of the study is “How the fragility of dream is reflected in
John Steinbeck’s of Mice and Men?”.
5
6
D. Limitation of the Study
This study is focuses on the Analysis of American society in early Twentieth
centuries as reflected on the major character in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and
Men. This study uses the theory of Genetic Structuralism developed by Lucian
Goldmann.
E. Objective of the Study
1. To analyze the novel based on its structural analysis.
2. To analyze the novel based on sociological perspective, (Genetic
structuralism).
F. Benefit of the Study
The Benefits of the study are stated as the following:
1. Theoretical Benefit
To improve the knowledge in studying literature and give contribution to
literary studies John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.
2. Practical Benefit
To fulfill the requirement for getting Bachelor of Education in English
Department.
G. Research Method
Dealing with research method, there are at least four points that need to be
involved as follows:
1. Object of the Research
The object of the study is the novel Of Mice and Men written by John
Steinbeck
6
7
2. Type of the Data and the Data Sources
There are two kinds of data resources namely primary data and secondary data
sources
a. Primary Data Sources
The primary data sources are the data taken from the text of Of Mice and Men.
It covers such things as words, phrases, sentences, events, and narration.
b. Secondary Data Sources
The secondary are the data sources deals with the novel and the other books
which have relation with this research, usually it taken from Books, article in
internet and Magazine.
3. Technique of the Data Collection
Technique of data collection is library research that is by collecting and
selecting both primary and secondary data.
4. Technique of the Data Analysis
Technique of data analysis used by the researcher includes two techniques.
First is Descriptive technique. In which the researcher explores some information,
stated implicitly within both of primary and secondary data sources. Secondly is
Hermeneutic technique that involves the researcher effort in interpreting the text
of the novel.
H. Paper Organization
This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter I is introduction dealing with
background of the study, literature review, problem statement, limitation of the
7
8
study, objective of the study, benefit of the study, research method, and paper
organization. Chapter II contains underlying theory explaining Notion Genetic
Structuralism used to analyze the novel, Major principle of Genetic Structuralism,
Structural elements of the novel and theoretical application. Chapter III dealing
with Social Historical Background in the 1937’s that consist of Social aspects,
Economic aspects, Political aspects, cultural aspects, Science and Technological
aspects, Religious aspects and then background of the Author’s life. Chapter IV
presents the structural element of the novel consisting of character and
characterization, setting, plot, point of view, style and theme. Chapter V deals
with a genetic structuralism or sociological analysis. Chapter VI is the conclusion
and suggestion of the study.
8